Biocon and Advaxis partner on cancer immunotherapy

Will develop ADXS-HPV for cervical cancer

Biocon has entered a collaboration with Advaxis to develop cancer treatments that use the body's own immune system to fight the disease.

The partners will co-develop and commercialise ADXS-HPV, a cancer immunotherapy discovered by Advaxis that is being investigated as a treatment for cervical cancer.

The deal will see Biocon gain exclusive commercialisation rights for ADXS-HPV in India and other key emerging countries if it reaches the market.

The potential rewards for Biocon are substantial considering 134,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in India, making it one of the most common cancers among women in the country.

“This agreement gives us reach into key markets where the number of patients with HPV-associated cancers is overwhelming,” said Daniel O'Conner, CEO of Advaxis.

Biocon's interest doesn't just lie in ADXS-HPV, however, and the company will also gain access to Advaxis' immunotherapy technology to potentially develop other therapies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The agreement brings together a US biotech in the form of Advaxis and one of India's burgeoning biopharmas in Biocon, with the latter recently hitting the headlines for a number of development deals involving biosmiilar versions of big-selling biological treatments.

This includes a collaboration with Mylan to develop biosimilar versions of three major insulin products: Sanofi's Lantus, Lilly's Humalog and Novo Nordisk's Novolog.

Biocon also recently announced plans to launch the world's first biosimilar version of Roche's breast cancer blockbuster Herceptin (trastuzumab) in India next month.

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